The heads of seven federal agencies have released a joint statement expressing their commitment to ensuring the security of the 2020 U.S. presidential elections.
The statement says the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Justice, the Office of Director of National Intelligence, FBI, National Security Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have ramped up their support to election officials at local and state government agencies to advance their election security initiatives.
“The U.S. government is working with all 50 states and U.S. territories, local officials, and private sector partners to identify threats, broadly share information, and protect the democratic process,†according to the statement.
Federal officials also warned of possible interference of malicious actors from Russia, Iran, China and other countries in the U.S. voting process through cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns and called on citizens to notify local officials, DHS and the FBI of any suspicious activity.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Attorney General William Barr issued the joint statement with Kevin McAleenan, acting DHS secretary; Joseph Maguire, interim acting director of national intelligence; FBI Director Christopher Wray; Gen. Paul Nakasone, U.S. Cyber Command commander and NSA director; and CISA Director Christopher Krebs.
Esper, McAleenan, Nakasone and Krebs are 2019 Wash100 award recipients.
